Bus driver fired for using a Kindle reading device while driving

Just a day after we posted an article about a school bus driver photographed texting while driving a bus load of school children, a TriMet bus driver in Portland, Oregon was videotaped by a passenger reading on a Kindle device while driving a metro bus.

King5.com of Seattle showed the videotape which clearly shows the bus driver with his Kindle laying on the dashboard directly under the bus steering wheel. The driver appears to be looking down, reading and even using the page turn button while speeding down Interstate 5.

TriMet terminated the driver saying:

“Operator Lahcen Qouchbane was terminated for posing an immediate threat to public safety and violation of district policy.”

Distracted driving is a leading cause of motor vehicle accident fatalities. In Washington state, it is a significant problem even though a hands-free cell phone law was enacted within the past year. The Washington Department of Transportation estimates that an average of 160 people are killed every year in accidents related to distracted driving in the state.

Behaviors including text messaging, cell phone usage, eating, reading, applying make-up, fiddling with radio controls are what comes to mind when one thinks of distracted driving. Maybe Kindle-reading should be added to the list.